Pangga fish a big hit at Agrilink

This year’s Agrilink saw the first exposure of a new fish called “Pangga.” And it may indeed become true to its name as a “darling” to Philippine freshwater aquaculture . “Pangga” is a short form of “palangga” which means darling in Ilonggo. 

This fish is called  Pangasius hypopthalmus, or sometimes referred to as Mekong catfish.  The Pangga is exciting because the fish grows from 20 gram fingerlings to one kg in six months with a feed conversion ratio (FCR) of 1.5 which means you produce one kilo of fish meat with 1.5 kilos of feed. 

With a survival rate of almost 100 percent, production cost amounts to less than P40 per kg.  It can be stocked intensively at the rate of 300,000 fish per hectare without requiring mechanical aeration. When filleted it becomes what is known in international trade as a “generic white fish” that is now used by restaurants as a substitute for the more expensive marine fish. 

Local fish farmers and processors think there is still plenty of opportunity to export the fish because of its growing popularity in the world market. Pangasius is currently produced mainly in Vietnam, which exported 226,000 metric tons of fillets worth $583 million from January to October 2006. 

It is this market that Filipino growers and exporters are eyeing. Fingerlings used to be the main constraint in the development of a local Pangasius industry since the fish does not occur naturally in the Philippines and fingerlings had to be imported. Thanks to the pioneering effort of Dr. Gregorio Domingo, a veterinarian by profession but agriculturalist in practice, fingerlings are now available from his farm in Tugbok, Davao City.

“I have been growing African catfish for many years in my 20-year old farm. In 2002, I received a gift of 2,000 pcs of Pangasius fingerlings from the Indonesian consul Karsono Parto Susanto in appreciation of our efforts to share technology for the culture of African catfish with Indonesians.  Initially, I did not quite know what to do with the fingerlings so I stocked them in one pond and fed them with pellets I used for my African catfish.  Before I knew it, the fish had grown to large sizes of up to two kilograms,” said Dr. Domingo.

At present the oldest fish in stock is already five years old, measures one meter in length and weighs nine kilograms.  Upon the advice of BFAR assistant director Gil Adora (then BFAR Region XI director) who also facilitated the entry of the exotic species to the Philippines, he made sure to grow the initial stock into breeders.

Feed is not a problem. Santeh Feeds, a leading aquaculture feed manufacturer in the Philippines, has developed a feed line for Pangasius with seven feed types to suit various stages of culture from crumbles for early fingerlings to 12 mm pellets for sizes bigger than one kilogram. Realizing Pangga’s potential five years ago, Santeh Feeds imported some fingerlings into the country and raised them to marketable size in a freshwater pond in Bustos, Bulacan. The trial run gave the company experience in formulating the feed required.